And of course very few of the people offering their opinions have actually used ALL of the available sims for a reasonable time (and I don't mean 5 minutes in a shop or at a friends).

So although you see lots of comments like "I've used RF/Phoenix/Clearview/AFPD etc extensively and it's the very best sim I've ever tried" often a more honest statement would be something like "I've only ever used one or two of RF/Phoenix/Clearview/AFPD etc and I thought one of those was better than the other, probably".

So subjective opinions and not based on any valid comparisons...but what else have we got to go on .

For the record I only fly fixed-wing and I like Phoenix better than the free sims or Clearview(1/3rd of the price of Phoenix). But as I haven't tried the latest versions of most of the other high-end sims IMO that's not really a very helpful opinion .

And of course very few of the people offering their opinions have actually used ALL of the available sims for a reasonable time (and I don't mean 5 minutes in a shop or at a friends). Steve

I've thought the same thing. You don't know what the experience level of anyone who states an opinion is. So then I think, ask the owner at the hobby shop. Problem with that is that he may only be aligned with one sim, or make more money on on sim than another. There's a guy local to me that only sells Aerofly. Guess what sims he thinks are junk?

When I am looking for a new motor for an airplane, I always check the motor section and see what are some good choices and bad choices. When I was going to buy a new radio, I found out that Spektrum had a serious problem with brown outs so I knew I had better stay away from them.

Shoot, when I first started in this hobby, based on the feedback from others, I bought a Easy Star as one of my first three trainer planes and based on all the negative feedback about Hobby King, I never, ever order anything from them.

You see, I base a lot of my purchases on feedback from others and I am sure that I am not alone in this opinion. Feedback on RCG, or many of the other forums I use helps me decide on many of the things I buy. So if I see many positive comments about RealFlight and ClearView, I may put them at the top of my list and figure out form those two what will meet my needs.

How do you know whether the feedback you're reading is from someone with an agenda? As I stated in my previous post, I talked with a local guy who sells Aerofly. He said he loves Aerofly, and the other sims are junk. I asked him what other sims he sells. None. Now I know this guy has a bias for Aerofly, and a bias against all other sims. I don't know what kind of bias people here may have. I doubt there are too many people who can give a knowledgeable, unbiased opinion of the pros and cons of each sim. Many will say they can. Who to believe?

I've read enough posts about the best sim here that all of the sims have been mentioned by numbers of people as being the best. I don't see where the best sim question is any closer now to being answered than it was a year or more ago.

Weigh what others have to say, I guess, but be aware that they may have an agenda, or may not even know what they're talking about. Ford owners will always say they love Fords. Chevy owners will say they love Chevys. Each will not like the other.

How do you know whether the feedback you're reading is from someone with an agenda?

Who cares if a single person has an agenda. That's one person. I'm talking about dozens of people that owns a certain item who provides their feedback on that item. If I read a thread about RealFlight and 30 people say they like it and 3 people say they didn't (and provide their reasons why) I'm confident that I could buy RealFlight and be happy with it. Same goes for an airplane, motor, Rx and any other RC goodies I wish to buy.

I think many people are smart enough to realize when someone is trying to blow smoke up our skirts and who is being honest and candid with their feedback. If a person has an agenda about one thing or another, it becomes clear enough and folks simply ignore that person. Or at least do their best to do so.

I would prefer to stick with reviews like Consumers Reports does. Problem is, RC is such a niche market that you won't find a whole lot of material to read from unbiased sources. I guess you're stuck with opinions of end users, but I would bet the majority of them have only one flight sim. I know that's all I have. How could they compare them?

We're really getting nowhere in this discussion, though. To use a phrase I think is silly: we'll have to agree to disagree.

There's a new thread (soon to be deleted) that explains how to steal RealFlight. I've seen a couple threads like that in the year I've been here. Are there any threads that explain how to steal other sims? Maybe RF is the best!!

I started useing Rc flight sims several years ago with FMS as most of you probably did. at the time I could not have been happier. Than I found RF 3.0 wow! what an upgrade. the user created planes and skins are fantastic in comparison, so I stuck with it for a while. I bought FSOne(have not even seen the new one) because they had all the Horizon planes I flew on it and found it to be lacking in comparison to RF. I used RF right up untill 4.5 and than I bough Phoenix and have used it ever since. Sure RF has a vest inventory of planes and the model moding is second to none, but when the cost is just way too much. Phoenix has as good if not better physics and graphics loads of sites and a resonable aircraft edit system (although the do need to include VPP and a prop resize tool). Clearview should be ashamed to charge what they do. Use FMS instead! That is my extent of RC flight sim use. All in all I have enjoyed Phonix the most. Just my opinion. Early in this thread some one asked what the value of useing his own radio was instead of a supplied transmitter. I believe in practicing with what you use. and if you are worried about wear and tear on your radio than you are much to rough with it LOL I have all of my radios collected over 20 years of flying and they all work perfectly. Anyone want to buy a bunch of futaba and JR fm's LOL